Beer: Reviews & Ratings

Reviews by beerdrifter:

Thanks to Jeffo for hooking me up with this one! Deep black pour with a two finger caramel-colored head with decent retention and nice lacing. The nose is wonderfully dominated by the bourbon and oak. Getting some subtle dark chocolate and oats as well. The taste follows suit with the bourbon and oak the stars once again. Hints of espresso, vanilla, leather, dark chocolate, oats, leather, and booze round it out. The mouthfeel is slightly thick, really creamy, and smooth as silk with a nice warming bitter finish. Overall, this is an unbelievable offering from such a young brewery! Complex and flavorful and already in the same class with the big boys. Well done Rooie Dop! (678 characters)

More User Reviews:

Whoops. Long week, needed a BA something, sorry to the friends who would otherwise have gotten a pour if not for my self justified selfishness. Thanks Jeff. Poured at cellar temp into an Oerbier tulip. 04/03/13 date.

S - Oak, light roast, more malts. Not much caramel or vanilla from the bourbon barrel, but not any harsh aromas generally found in BA non-imperial stouts.

T - Oaky roasted malt, small amount of chocolate, wood again, little bit of dryness on a smooth finish. The heat approaches but never really hits anything I'm excess, which is nice. Further sips give some caramel flavors as the palate adjusts. The oak starts to stick as well.

M - Really good for a BA Oatmeal Stout. Medium body.

O - I like it and I'd drink it if it were in the US. Could use a little bit of time for the oak to smooth out as the bottle gets consumed, but other than that it is pretty good. Lighter stouts can be hard to give an appropriate barrel aging to, but I think these guys nailed it. (1,099 characters)

Sampled from a bottle at Cask in London. This one packs a huge amount of carbonation. Our pours had huge, tan heads yet there was still a great deal left in the mouthfeel. The aroma was sweet and syrupy with molasses and brown sugar. It smelled like malt extract. The flavor is a little tamer yet still rich, sweet and syrupy. Despite all of the above, it was a little on the thin side; perhaps partially due to the carbonation. An interesting beer but not one I could have often. (480 characters)

From a bottle into a snifterBottled 04 March 2013Drunk right after the base beer

APPEARANCE: Pours out relatively black and yields a two finger, medium looking, tan head with very good retention. Black body with no real carbonation evident. A touch darker than the base beer. Head slowly fades to a full foam cap and sticky to the sides of the glass. A splotchy wisp remains and leaves some nice lacing down the glass. Good looking brew.

SMELL: Bourbon, oak and vanilla on the nose for sure. Caramel and some sweet cream, though the bourbon notes are more prevalent. Hints of dark chocolate and oats lay a good foundation under the enticing barrel aromas. Really good stuff.

TASTE: Bourbon and oak up front with some roasted flavors and light notes of oats as well. Sweetness through the middle with a big and lingering aftertaste of bourbon barrel, oak, caramel and sweet cream. Some bitter dark chocolate, oats, and roasted, burnt flavors accompany the barrel flavors, making this an extremely well balanced and delicious treat. Fantastic stuff.

PALATE: Medium body and medium levels of carbonation. Somewhat lighter on the palate, unfortunately, but creamy smooth for sure, goes down smooth and finishes a touch sticky. Nice enough, but too light for the style perhaps. Lighter than the base.

OVERALL: This turned out really, really well. The barrel took the lead a bit here, but the base beer was still able to put its stamp on the experience. Very nice balance here, and the look had improved as well. Only the lighter body, which can happen with barrel aging, keeps this from being the world class beer it otherwise is. Cheers fellas. Keep up the good work! (1,736 characters)

This is the very first Dutch beer which REALLY blew me away. Never had a better beer...

I got this beer at the Zeebra Extreme Beerfestival in Holland on may 4th 2013. Zeebra was held for the first time with lots of very very very great beers like this one.

This one was poured in a Zeebra glass, a small tasting glass. I did not really know what to expect from this beer...heard a lot of good thing about it from Mar02x. He was right!

A small head and some carbonation. Very nice smell which invites to drink this beer. Black as hell. This beer can compete with the other BA oatmeal stouts. Not as good as the Rarer DOS but boy oh boy, what a beer...

Appearance: The beer is not quite as dark as I was expecting – it does appear black in the glass, however a backlight reveals a thick slice of deep red along the edge of the glass. A rough pour yields a large tan coloured head that displays exceptional retention and leaves some pretty good looking as it slowly recedes.

Smell: Wow, this smells delicious – the barrel aging has added fantastic notes sweet cream, caramel, oak and soft vanilla to the base beer notes of chocolate, cocoa powder and roasted malt. As the nose opens up a touch of leather becomes apparent.

Taste: There is more roasted malt in the flavour than the nose suggested, but it is well balanced by a fantastic barrel character. Notes include: Sweet cream, vanilla, caramel, oak, chocolate, roasted malt and a touch of dark fruitiness. There is a solid bitterness and a touch of dryness in the finish.

Mouthfeel: Initially the beer was a little over carbonated (medium-high level), however it settles down incredibly quickly and after only one or two swirls the level has been reduced to a low level and the texture has become quite creamy. The body is actually a little too light for the flavour at a medium level.

Overall: Rooie Dop BA Double Oatmeal Stout is a fantastic beer and I must thank Brabander for recommending it to me. I suspect that we will be seeing a lot more of this brewery in the future. (1,514 characters)

It pours a nice dark, dark brown color with a ring of tan to brown head, decent look that doesn't look thick at all for what I might have expected.

The smell to me seems like it is an aged beer, but to my knowledge it isn't aged, makes me wonder if it had a long time in the barrel. The smell is of musty malt, nice smoothed out bourbon, decent yeast presence with really no hops to speak of. The taste has a nice honey coated walnut to almond type dessert taste, a guy in the group said it almost had a baklava sort of quality to it. Definite chocolate malt, a dry finish for a stout. Decent medium feel that does seem to have a lingering nice taste despite the dryness.

Very nice beer, not totally amazing but very good and again is a testament to the barrel aged European beers that are all very solid and well made. (876 characters)